Software Freedom Law Center files first US GPL infringement suit

The Software Freedom Law Center has filed a copyright infringement suit on …

The Software Freedom Law Center announced yesterday that it is filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Monsoon Multimedia on behalf of the open-source BusyBox project, which is distributed under the Free Software Foundation's General Public License (GPL).

This is the first time that a company has been sued in the United States for failing to fulfill the copyleft obligations imposed by the license. Monsoon is accused of including BusyBox in the firmware for a video streaming device that is distributed under a proprietary license that isn't compatible with the terms of the GPL. The GPL grants end users the right to modify and redistribute licensed code and requires that derivatives are distributed under the same license. Distributors who provide GPL software in binary form must also make the source code available to the public.

BusyBox is a collection of essential Linux command-line utilities bundled together in a single executable. It is widely used in mobile and embedded Linux solutions, like several routers, handheld computers, and network storage devices, because it's designed to be highly compact and portable. A number of prominent companies that use BusyBox, including HP, IBM, and Nokia, comply with the licensing requirements stipulated by the GPL.

The BusyBox developers decided to pursue legal action after Monsoon confirmed last month that BusyBox is indeed included in one of its products but declined numerous requests to comply with the GPL.

"We licensed BusyBox under the GPL to give users the freedom to access and modify its source code," said BusyBox developer Erik Andersen in a statement. "If companies will not abide by the fair terms of our license, then we have no choice but to ask our attorneys to go to court to force them to do so."

According to a complaint filed in a New York district court by the Software Freedom Law Center and seen by Ars, the plaintiffs accuse Monsoon of copyright infringement and seek damages and injunctive relief. "[U]nder the License, any party that redistributes BusyBox in a manner that does not comply with the terms of the License immediately and automatically loses all rights granted under it," the complaint says. "As such, any rights Defendant may have had under the License to redistribute BusyBox were automatically terminated the instant that Defendant made non-compliant distribution of the Infringing Products or Firmware. Since that time, Defendant has had no right to distribute BusyBox, or a modified version of BusyBox, under any circumstances or conditions."

In a blog entry, DLA Piper senior partner Mark Radcliffe explains how the outcome of this case will influence future open-source license enforcement litigation. "This case is very important because it will establish what type of remedies (either contract or copyright) are available to licensors for breach of the GPLv2," writes Radcliffe.

In most cases of this nature, the participants settle before going to trial. If this suit does escalate into a trial, it will mark the first time that the GPL's copyleft requirements are tested in court.